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Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn Bertha Honoré Palmer and Potter Palmer Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester
Glossary
Top area shows two large, ornate-framed pictures on light-colored walls, with a single wall sconce on the right. Centered below, an older adult sits on a long, patterned sofa, facing forward, wearing a dark dress with a long necklace and a dark, fluffy wrap; hair is pulled back and hands rest in the lap. On the right arm of the sofa, a patterned fabric is draped; at the bottom, crossed ankles in dark lace-up shoes rest above a dark floor. The sofa spans most of the width, while the framed pictures above are smaller in scale relative to the seated person.

Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn

Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn

Born in 1856 in Fremont, Illinois, Annie Swan Coburn moved to Chicago with her family by 1871 and lived in the city until her death in May 1932 (fig. 1).[1] In 1880 she married Lewis Larned Coburn, a prominent patent attorney and one of the founders (and first president) of the Union League Club of Chicago. Upon his death in 1910, Mrs. Coburn began to collect art, initially purchasing American works and gradually expanding her collection to include French Impressionist paintings. Around the same time, she moved into an apartment in the Blackstone Hotel. Although wall space was limited in her new home, she continued to collect works of art, which she displayed in her own unique and intimate way (fig. 2, fig. 3, fig. 4, fig. 5, and fig. 6).[2]1

At the center, an older adult sits on a long patterned sofa, facing forward, wearing a black dress, a long pendant necklace, a dark shoulder wrap, and dark lace‑up shoes. Above and behind, two large framed pictures hang on the wall: the left picture shows pale tree shapes, and the right picture shows figures; a wall sconce with a single bulb is to the right of them. From left to right along the sofa, the upholstery has a diamond motif, and a patterned fabric is draped over the right armrest. Tones throughout are black, gray, and white.
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Fig. 1

Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn (1856–1932) seated in her Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include (1) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Young Woman Sewing, 1879. Oil on canvas; 61.4 × 50.5 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.452. See cat. 7 in Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.

Top center, a large framed picture of a footbridge over a pond with many lily pads hangs between two tall windows with light curtains. Below, a medium table covered with a leafy-patterned cloth holds a small standing statue, a tall vase, two bowls, a small framed picture, stacked books or papers, and a small plant. Leaning on either side, two large framed pictures rest on low benches: at left, flowers in a vase; at right, a person holding an open book or paper close to their face. On the floor at the far left and right, two small framed pictures show single standing figures; the scene is in grayscale.
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Fig. 2

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include (1) Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Water Lily Pond, 1900. Oil on canvas; 89.8 × 101 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.441. See cat. 37. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.

Corner of a room in black-and-white with several framed artworks arranged around a dark cabinet and a chair. Top left, a large picture of small boats on water hangs above the cabinet holding small objects; top right, another large picture shows tall buildings beside water. Below the right picture, three smaller frames lean on the chair: a scene with a rider on a horse, a head-and-shoulders portrait of a person with dark hair, and a still life of flowers; on the floor in front of the cabinet, another large frame leans showing two figures in a garden. The two hanging pictures are the largest, and all elements appear in light and dark gray tones.
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Fig. 3

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago.  Displayed works include (1) Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). The Beach at Sainte-Adresse, 1867. Oil on canvas; 75.8 × 102.5 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.439. See cat. 13. (2) Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Venice, Palazzo Dario, 1908. Oil on canvas; 66.2 × 81.8 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.446. See cat. 45. (3) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). La cueillette des fleurs (Picking Flowers). Formerly 1933.454 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1947. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.

From left to right: a small room in black and white holds three large framed paintings and a few pieces of furniture. On the left wall, a portrait of an adult with a beard and mustache hangs above a seascape with a rocky cliff; a carved, upholstered bench sits below. On the right, a still life showing a bowl piled with round fruit leans against the wall, next to a round table that holds a small pitcher-shaped object and a closed book. Dark wooden doors and panels frame the space.
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Fig. 4

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include (1) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Alfred Sisley, 1876. Oil on canvas; 66.24 × 54.8 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.453. See cat. 4 in Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. (2) Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Cliff Walk at Pourville, 1882. Oil on canvas, 66.5 × 82.3 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.443. See cat. 19. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.

Interior view in shades of gray showing a cluster of framed pictures arranged around a wall and a decorative fireplace. Across the upper area left to right: a small framed picture, a larger scene with a standing person among trees, a two-bulb wall sconce, and on the mantel a large vase with a framed portrait of an adult with facial hair behind it. At center and foreground, frames rest on the floor: a large scene of dense trees and tall grass, a rectangular still life of flowers in a vase to its right, and a square picture with light circular shapes leaning on a small upholstered stool to its left. Additional small pieces fill gaps, including a fan-shaped picture of flowers above the large center frame and a small framed image of a seated person on the floor at the far right.

Fig. 5


Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.

From left to right: a tall window with a framed portrait on the low ledge sits beside a tall floor lamp, and a large framed picture hangs on the wall. At center, a piano with a chair in front has a cloth and a flower arrangement on top, with two medium-to-large framed pictures hanging above. On the right, a console table beneath a wall mirror holds small framed pictures, a lamp, and bowls, while two large framed landscapes hang nearby and another large framed picture leans on the floor; tones are in black, white, and gray.
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Fig. 6

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include (1) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881. Oil on canvas; 100.4 × 80.9 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.455. See cat. 11 in Renoir Painting and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. (2) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Pivoines (Peonies). Formerly 1933.456 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1942. (3) Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Église de Varengeville, temps gris (The Church at Varengeville, Gray Weather). Formerly 1933.442 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1944. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.

From April 6 to October 9, 1932, the Art Institute of Chicago (under the auspices of its Antiquarian Society) held a special exhibition of more than sixty paintings, watercolors, drawings, and pastels from Mrs. Coburn’s collection.[3] Just two months after the opening of the exhibition—which included Édouard Manet’s Woman Reading (fig. 7), one of her last major acquisitions—Mrs. Coburn died, leaving the Art Institute more than one hundred works of art. The Fogg Museum at Harvard University and Smith College also received portions of her collection.2

Top section shows an adult with light skin wearing a large black hat and a white ruffled collar, facing slightly to the right. Center-right foreground, the person holds a large gray newspaper or sheet of paper with both hands, with their face visible just above it. Left foreground sits a small tabletop with a tall handled mug in tan and white tones. Background across the top and right is mostly green with scattered red and blue areas, with pale vertical shapes along the left edge.

Fig. 7


Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883). Woman Reading, 1879/80. Oil on canvas; 61.2 × 50.7 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.435.

Monet Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago from the Collection of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn

The Beach at Sainte-Adresse (cat. 13)3

Cliff Walk at Pourville (cat. 19)4

Stacks of Wheat (End of Day, Autumn) (cat. 28)5

Water Lily Pond (cat. 37)6

Vétheuil (cat. 42)7

Venice, Palazzo Dario (cat. 45)8

Champ de coquelicots (Poppy Field)[4]9

Citrons sur une branche (Lemons on a Branch)[5]10

Église de Varengeville, temps gris (The Church at Varengeville, Gray Weather)[6]11

Portrait de Léon Peltier[7]12

Renoir Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago from the Collection of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn

Alfred Sisley (cat. 4)13

Young Woman Sewing (cat. 7)14

Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (cat. 11)15

La cueillette des fleurs (Picking Flowers)[8]16

L’algérienne (The Algerian Girl)[9]17

Pivoines (Peonies)[10]18

Notes

  1. For more on Annie Swan Coburn, see Eleanor Jewett, “Noted Private Art Collection on Exhibition,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Apr. 6, 1932; “Masterpieces of the French Impressionists from the Collection of Mrs. L. L. Coburn Being Exhibited for the First Time at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Fine Arts 19, 1 (June 1932); Daniel Catton Rich, “The Bequest of Mrs. L. L. Coburn,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 26, 6 (Nov. 1932), pp. 66–71; “Annie S. Coburn Estate Is Given $888,982 Value,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 19, 1932, p. 16; Daniel Catton Rich, “Midwest Art Capital,” Town and Country 105 (Mar. 1951), pp. 72–77, 135–37; Stefan Germer, “Traditions and Trends: Taste Patterns in Chicago Collecting,” in The Old Guard and the Avant-Garde: Modernism in Chicago, 1910–1940, ed. Sue Ann Prince (University of Chicago Press, 1990), pp. 171–91, 259–61; and Regina M. Buccola, “Annie Swan Coburn,” in Women Building Chicago, 1790–1990: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast (Indiana University Press, 2001), pp. 174–75.
  2. Mrs. Coburn did not bequeath all of her Monet and Renoir paintings to the Art Institute of Chicago. Only those that were given to the museum are numbered and captioned in these archival photographs. We will identify works by other artists as we produce each monographic volume in the series.
  3. Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Mrs. L. L. Coburn Collection: Modern Paintings and Watercolors, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1932).
  4. Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, vol. 3, Nos. 969–1595 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), cat. 998 (ill.). Formerly 1933.445 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1944.
  5. Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, vol. 2, Nos. 1–968 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), cat. 888 (ill.). Formerly 1933.440 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1944.
  6. Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, vol. 2, Nos. 1–968 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), cat. 725 (ill.). Formerly 1933.442 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1944.
  7. Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Catalogue raisonné/Werkverzeichnis, vol. 2, Nos. 1–968 (Taschen/Wildenstein Institute, 1996), cat. 542 (ill.). Formerly 1933.438 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1944.
  8. Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. 2, 1882–1894 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2009), cat. 1206 (ill.). Formerly 1933.451 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1945.
  9. Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, with the collaboration of Camille Frémontier-Murphy, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. 1, 1858–1881 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2007), cat. 92 (ill.). Formerly 1933.454 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1947.
  10. Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, with the collaboration of Camille Frémontier-Murphy, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. 1, 1858–1881 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2007), cat. 36. Formerly 1933.456 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1942.
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